I chose TREES because I was inspired by that splendid shot by OPTIMAN in the May competition and also because it had been suggested in the 'ideas and suggestions' section some time ago. I reckoned it could work for every continent (except perhaps Antarctica!) and every climate / season, so would not disadvantage anyone anywhere.

I would suggest that what we are looking for is a stunning composition in which a tree plays a major part, not necessarily to the exclusion of everything else however, other elements might sit well with it.

Well done Jiko, nice shot .... I thought TREE would be so easy and accessible to everyone that we would get lots of good entries ... how more wrong could I be! Sometimes I despair for the future of this monthly competition. This one shot in the Namib Desert

Indeed we had a low number of entries in July, despite the very accessible theme. Still, I and others enjoy having a themed assignment to work on every month, so let's keep it up.

On to more exciting stuff: we have a winner for July's assignment! Congratulations Savlet/Sarah!

- Bjorn

Huge thanks to those of you who voted for my photo 'I want to be a tree', much appreciated. I was sat at work eating my lunch and decided to check my emails and low and behold, I get the pleasant news! I look forward to learning more about wildlife photography.